Media Messaging: The silent, subtle art of loudmouthing the innocent

by Anjali Appadurai If there's one lesson we learned loud and clear at this COP, it was how important a role the media plays in determining the world's perception of the dangerous game being played out in the negotiating rooms. Throughout the COP, misguided messaging was a huge obstacle to a united civil society front. We saw a multitude of messaging angles on each major issue within the...

A new era of Carbon Colonialism

by Graham Reeder Say goodbye to equity. That was the sour taste we were left with as the COP president gavelled through 'agreement' after 'agreement' at 5am on Sunday morning. I will let others describe the scene on that night, what I want to focus on is what I see as a new step in contemporary colonialism. The UNFCCC laid out several core principles when it was first written,...

unF**C our future

-nathan thanki So while the AWG-KP plenary is suspended for Parties to get their heads together, let's have a little fun. Late one night in the first week a few of us were sitting round the table of Hippo Hide backpackers. Samuli came in shouting about final outcomes, and we decided to all write down our predictions and keep them for the final night. Well that night is now upon us friends. Here...

Yields of the Night Vigil

by Anjali Appadurai I started this post at 4am, and worked on it intermittently until now - 9:30am. No new LCA text, no sleep. These ministers worked through the night, and through the documents they released from their "indaba" at a couple of different intervals, we have some meagre updates. The indaba high-level consultations convened at midnight and are still going strong, with three draft...

BASIC makes Room for an Elephant

by Joe Perullo BASIC (the group of Brazil, South African, India, and China) gave a rather uncomfortable press conference the other day.  China, the leader of the group, started the talk on the defensive, denying the major "rumor" floating around that BASIC is splitting up. The other countries complied and also denied the allegations. An elephant walked into the room. The EU and the US have...